The last day of the 2010 Sierra Challenge had
18 of us at Whitney Portal, a
trailhead we had not used in several years because of the restrictions on
dayhikers. I had been unsuccessful in obtaining permits by lottery for the last
three years and had all but given up. Fortunately Phil had taken the day off
on Saturday and had managed to get 15 permits in two morning sessions by going
down to the Permit Office just south of Lone Pine. Our route to Mt. Morgenson
only went through a small section of the Whitney Zone, an area unlikely to be
populated with rangers, but it was good to do things legal in case an issue
should arise. We never saw a ranger all day as it turned out.

Mt. Morgenson lies west of the Sierra Crest, just west of Mt. Russell. The
peak is unofficially named for backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson who died in
a remote part of SEKI NP while on patrol. His remains were found in 2001, more
than five years after an intense effort following his disappearance
that had found
no trace of him after weeks of searching. At just under 14,000ft, Mt. Morgenson
is one of the highest summits in the range without an official name, and it
seems a fitting tribute.

We headed up the Whitney Trail
in a long line, crossing Carillon Creek and then
starting up the North Fork Trail that is now an official route with
signs, closed sections, and ducks galore. We scrambled up the
Ebersbacher Ledges and made it to Lower Boy Scout Lake
around 7:15a. By now our group had spread
out and I was with the lead party of about seven as we started up the
grassy slopes above the lake.
I very much enjoy this route up to Cleaver Col, leading
to a large amphitheater
between Carillon and Gamblers Special, with Cleaver
Peak rising impressively at the head of the canyon. We took a break here to
restock on water, then started up the
class 2-3 rock and scree slopes towards the col.

This last part is somewhat tedious due to the shifting nature of the sand
covering much of the area, but I found it could be mitigated some by choosing
the tougher class 3 rock to the left side of the
main channel that most were
ascending. It was just before 9a when we reached the top of
the col under
sunny, deep blue skies, and an even deeper blue
Tulainyo Lake lying on the
west side of the col - a feast for the eyes. We took a short break here to let
the group of seven reassemble. The pace was not as brisk as it had been earlier
in the week and I for one was enjoying the more casual outing.

Scrambling down from the col over large boulders, we skirted around the south
side of Tulainyo Lake, careful over a few inclined
snowbanks that promised a
bumpy ride and a cold swim for anyone not paying attention. Around on the west
side of the lake we hiked over
a small rise into the larger basin between Mts.
Russell and Morgenson. We were still together for the easy traverse across the
basin, but once we arrived at the base of the peak and started up the steeper
slopes, we all dispersed to our various paces.

Moregenson's NE Face is little more than a steep class 2 climb over granite
rock that varies from sandy talus to broken blocks to knobby friction. As usual,
Sean was the first to the summit with a pace going up the NE Face that was only
slightly slower than the earlier pace on the traverse, almost like we'd been
keeping him in idle most of the morning and he'd finally gotten to the open road
where he could give it some gas. I was second or third, but in a relatively
short time we had all seven at the top.

A register found at the summit was fairly new, going back only a few years. One
of the familiar faces from the Mt. Whitney online forum, Richard Piotrowski
seems to have made it his special favorite, climbing it multiple time and
placing the register.
The view is not significantly different from that of Mt. Russell, with the
exception of the western view
to Mts. Young and Hale, and the Kaweahs in the
distant background. There is a fine view of Mts. Tyndall, Barnard, and
Williamson to the north
with the Wallace Lakes area in the foreground. The
southern view is dominated by the broad North Face of Mt. Whitney. To
the east
of course was Mt. Russell and the more immediate concern of the ridgeline
traversing between it and Morgenson.

Expected to be the spicy highlight of the
day, the traverse between the two summits has been described as class 5 along
the ridge, class 3 if you drop lower on the north side to avoid difficulties.
I knew that Tom Becht had done this traverse previously without a rope, but
also that Matthew had backed down while with him. It couldn't be easy class 3,
that was for sure, and probably a lot harder.

After we (or I should say, I) had sufficient rest, I began inquiring if others
were interested in joining me for the traverse to Russell. Sean and Rick agreed
much as expected,
Dirk was game as well once his beer was finished. The others
less so, and declined. The first section
to a saddle is easy class 2 over broken rock and talus, but it doesn't
take long before things become more challenging. We spotted
Laura and Paul
below during this initial segment, waving and calling to them before resuming
our efforts. They were not long in reaching the summit of Morgenson, stopping
to take a well-deserved rest. Several others were to reach Morgenson after
them as well.

Sean led
us across the first half of the traverse, Rick following behind me,
Dirk somewhere further back, a bit frustrated because we had started off
without warning and he had some catching up to do. There were a number of long
stretches of angled slabs with great exposure made reasonable by excellent hand
positions either over lips or in
convenient cracks. We followed this over to
the first of two snow fields on the face, needing to traverse
above these in
order to not have to drop all the way off the ridge. Sean decided the traversing
was a bit weak and started heading up the steeper slabs leading back to the
ridgeline. Too rich for our blood, Rick and I stuck to the traversing line,
even as it deteriorated into a series of
shorter ledges covered with loose rock and sand,
the face looking decidedly less friendly. Much of what we were
scrambling across spends 8 months of the year under snow and consequently looked
more like a morraine as far as the rock quality goes. Crappy stuff. Some
blocks would fall with an easy tug, then you'd have to stand up on a nearby
one and get ready to jump aside if should let go as well. We kept far enough
apart to ensure we were never directly below each other which could only serve
to increase the dangers. By taking our time and moving quite slowly in places,
we managed to cobble together the connecting pieces for the long
traverse, spending more than an hour on the difficult middle section. When we
arrived at
a second saddle below Mt. Russell, Rick and I were rather relieved.
Meanwhile, Dirk had followed up the ridge more or less in the same fashion as
Sean. It was obvious that both were less intimidated by this ridgeline than Rick
and I.

Looking back, we spotted first Sean and then Dirk
high on the ridgeline,
appearing to have scrambled their way into a fix. But with Sean in front, one
after the other they worked their way down some class 4-5 problems, solving
one difficulty, then another.
It was nerve-wracking to watch them from a
distance, even knowing that our perspective made it look more difficult than it
probably was. Once regrouped, we continued our way up Mt. Russell. Though not
trivial, the class 3 we found had no route-finding issues and was a more
enjoyable (though perhaps less memorable) than the traversing we'd just
finished.

It was 12:45p when the four of us reached Russell's higher
west summit. We perused and signed
the register as usual, but did not spend much time at the
summit before starting down
the East Ridge. By comparison to the previous
exercise, the East Ridge seemed a far more pleasant and social scramble. We
chatted about all sorts of things as the four of us made our way down, often by
varying routes, in good time. We spotted a couple of climbers at the saddle with
Mt. Carillon and recognized the one dressed in orange almost immediately as
Laura.

We had a small reunion of sorts at the saddle where they had waited for us.
Laura was feeling emotional, having been the first women to complete all ten
day's worth of Challenge peaks, and was giving hugs all around, teary-eyed.
Swept up in the
emotions of the moment it was natural for me to respond, "Who's going to
Carillon?" Rick and Dirk were a "no", Sean was game, and Laura turned to give
Mt. Carillon the finger in way of answer. I took that as a "no".

Trying unsuccessfully to keep up with Sean on the easy class 2 scramble, it
took but ten minutes to reach
the summit. My original plan was to scramble
down the Northeast Ridge of Carillon to Cleaver Col and return that way, but
it looked like I was the only one interested in that. And from the looks of it,
it was going to take some time to get down it. The more sociable option was to
join the others for the normal descent route back to Lower Boy Scout Lake, and
in the end that was what I decided on. We spent only a minute to sign in
the register and take a few pictures
before bolting down the South Slopes in our
effort to catch up to the others that had already started across the sandy
plateau southeast of the saddle. With a bit of running, we caught up to them
at the edge of the plateau and
the start of the 2,000-foot sand and talus
descent to the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek. Laura was the first to begin the
bombing run down slope, screaming as she jumped off a small ledge, the rest of
us quickly falling in behind in wild abandonment.
The wide open nature of the slope made for
multiple possibilities for passing, and before long Laura was behind us, the
testosterone and adrenaline getting the best of us in the smell of
competition. It took only 17 minutes to descend the distance down to the creek
where we stopped to empty handfuls of sand and pebbles out of
our shoes.

Rick suggested an alternative descent from this point to LBSL, the "Cliff
Route" as he termed it. As something new and different, I was game as was
Sean, Laura deciding to take the standard route along the creek and give herself
sometime alone.
Rick's was an interesting choice, one I enjoyed very much. Initially a
descending traverse through open forest and sandy slopes, the route eventually
emerged at the top of a cliff. By veering right (towards the north) we made use
of friction slabs
to descend the upper half of the cliff to a steep gully on
the edge of the cliff that was used to descend the remaining distance. One
emerges at the bottom of the cliff in a flat area just west of
the lake.

It was great fun descending back to the TH with Sean and Rick, a combination
of jogging, joking, and quick route-finding decisions. Back down the
Ebersbacher Ledges we went, meeting up with
Eileen and a friend, two other
Challenge participants, for a quick chat, then continuing our hurried pace. Rick
led us down the alternate route below the ledges that stays on the north side
of the creek, ducking down through overgrown alder, with only a few missed
turns that he soon corrected. We reached
the junction with the Whitney Trail shortly after 3p and were back to
the trailhead ten minutes later.

Back at the Whitney Portal Store we met up with
Bob J and Phil and together we had a few beers
along with our burgers. Laura came strolling in about 45 minutes
later. It never ceases to amaze me how she seems to know just about everyone on
the East Side and true to form she knows the store owner and all the employees
as well. She even has her own special "Mooseburger" on the
menu (a huge, gluttonous feast with almost a pound of ground beef in several
patties, along with gobs of bacon and cheese). She also has special parking
privileges at the back of the store which was very convenient for retrieving the
beers from her cooler that we had with our lunch. Nice!

An hour later we moved our small party to a larger one down in Lone Pine at the
Pizza Factory where others had gathered. We chatted over the day's and week's
events, recounting favorite moments, savoring the ten fine days of Sierra
weather we were blessed with. The only close race in the Challenge was for the
Yellow jersey. I had started the day with a lead of 1.5hrs over Bob Jones and
might have lost it on the traverse to Mt. Russell if we hadn't made up so much
time returning to the TH afterwards. Bob J and Phil had arrived back only half
an hour ahead of us, leaving me with an hour's cushion. Bob Jones took the
Green jersey (50yrs+) handily, as did Adam the White (<25yrs) and Sean
the Polka Dot (most peaks) with 30 summits for the ten days, an all-time
record. So much fun was had that I've already been working on an 11th Challenge
for 2011.

Laura comments
on 10/25/10:
Bob, this was one of the most amazing ten days of my life. I still get a huge smile on my face whenever I think back to waking up in the TOF, gathering with the herd at the trailheads, or any of the details of any of the days. Thanks for putting on one hell of a show. I really hope to join you on more adventures in the years to come. (and p.s.: my friend's name that day was Jim!)